The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Museum has a Snow Village displaying over 200 homes from the Snow Village collection. The private collection of Vernon and Kay Wolf represents 20 years of collecting various village scenes now on display for the public to enjoy.
There are country scenes, city scenes, village scenes and all sorts of sights in the five different setups of the village in the museum.
The Snow Village scenes will be on display through January 14.
"The museum has recently received a donation of additional houses to be added to the display for the next Christmas season," said Vernon Wolf who is a jack-of-all-trades at the museum.
The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse was built in 1909 at the edge of the river to serve an area that serviced an area extending north of Edinburg. It had 23 miles of irrigation lines, 47 miles of earthen canals; 72 miles are drainage ditches and 78 miles of drainage pipes.
When a 1933 hurricane moved the water’s edge about a half mile away, it was necessary to build canals to get the water to the pumphouse in order to pump it across the Valley.
Today, a nature park has been built in the area where the river moved southward. Trails leading through butterfly gardens and bird habitat provide an opportunity for visitors to enjoy Valley wildlife.
A bicycle trail moving east of the pumphouse to Highway 281 along Texana Avenue and back to the old Hidalgo pumphouse is about four and a half miles long. The museum has about 20 mountain bicycles for rent for those who would like to ride the nature trail. And visitors are welcome to bring their own.
Admission to the museum is $2 for seniors and $3 for adults. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed on Saturday.